Last week the 36th Annual Blues Music Awards were handed out May 7 in Memphis in a gala event at the Cook Convention Center. In some ways, the sold-out dinner and awards show was your usual dinner and awards show. For a blues fan, the awards were an overload of industry luminaries and newcomers, with a wealth of performances. Artists on hand included Charlie Musselwhite, Keb' Mo', Bobby Rush, John Hammond and Elvin...

Matt Sharp likes to mix things up. The frontman and chief songwriter behind synth rock act The Rentals has been inventing and reinventing their sound since he formed the band as a side project to his then main gig in Weezer way back in 1995.

The Rentals enjoyed a hit right out of the gate with a slice of MTV-fueled candy called "Friends of P" off their debut album, Return of the Rentals (Maverick/Reprise, 1995)....

The Old Market is certainly known as Omaha’s happening place. No surprise, then, that it’s a site for something new, entirely fresh: a concert on May 16 at Kaneko of music of today, works in progress, written by people still emerging into the light. They are composers in their mid-30s, whose studies continue even while their careers already show promise. They are the focus of Fresh Ink, a seven-year project...

Check out a brand new episode of the Lazy-i Podcast! In this week's episode:

-– Tim McMahan and Chris Aponick review four albums from the first quarter of 2015 by artists Courtney Barnett, Waxahatchee, John Klemmensen and the Party and Simon Joyner.
— A big show announcement!.
-- The hottest shows of the weekend.

It’s 21 wasted minutes of your life you’ll never get back, but who cares, it’s free. Check it out.